Tensions in South Korea reached new heights after President Yoon Suk-yeol’s late-night martial law declaration on Tuesday, an ultimately short-lived measure that he justified as targeting “pro-North, anti-state elements.”

But while North Korea has yet to publicly respond to the events transpiring in the South, Yoon’s extreme actions were far from the first time that an ROK leader declared martial law, and a look back at these past instances can shed light on what Pyongyang will do now.

In particular, the DPRK sought to take advantage of unrest in the South when former leaders Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan declared